One of my favorite performances we’ve had this past year was Television Evangelist by Odd Thomas.
Erwin: Too often, we have biblical language without biblical meaning. In the process, we have turned the movement of Jesus into an institution, moving from relationship to a religion.
Ralph Neighbour (III) transitioned Inland Community Church to become Mosaic Inland, now one of the Mosaic campuses. The most difficult part of the transition was shifting the focus of the mission of the community from serving Christians to serving the Inland Empire. They came to a crossroad: preserving the past or risking to create a better future. As a pastor, Ralph had created a co-dependent relationship with his people. He created a culture in which the community needed him. The challenges have been worthwhile as new people have gotten connected to Jesus and to community that would have been overlooked in the past.
Q&A: How do you help move people to maturity?
People become what the environment reflects. Help your environment become missional.
Move people into leadership and levels of influence who you want others to become like.
Preach from a perspective that the Scriptures need to be obeyed. Maturity should be measured by the speed at which someone is willing to obey God not the amount of information a person has about God.
Serving others with others moves people to become hungry for what they need to know from God.
A missional life helps take care of the heresy and immorality which should exist in our communities as a result of those outside of the church we are serving and connecting.
